mikeinctown

Meh, the water heater is in a gaage where people place cars, lawnmowers, leafblowers, weed trimmers and gas cans all full of volatile liquid and vapors. We all want to think the worst, but can someone point to a rash of incidents where a water heater ignited someone's loading station? It isn't like the guy is going to be sitting on the floor tossing power into the air.

lets see, spend a grand on a rifle, hundreds or thousands in ammo or supplies for ammo loading and refuse to spend $10 on shipping. Sound about right?

Mine is in the kitchen. Well a part of the kitchen meant for a table, but a table would never fit. Metro wire rack I picked up for $15. Cut the legs down and topped it with a section of countertop I got from a demo. I can set the shelf height to any height I desire in 1" increments. Right now it is just over 36" and with the strong mount I am at perfect height to not have to bend over at all. Weight on the setup is from used brass. The shelving barely moves and if I need to I can place a couple angle clips screwed into the molding. Bench is 36" wide and 24" deep. 20140923_213904 by mikeinctown, on Flickr

I have a .45 Colt case and it seems just a bit too small to slide betwen the rails and actually sit there well. I can shove the nose end between the rails, so the primer end won't be snug enough. I've read of a perfect size rifle casing working but cannot remember which. (and I wouldn't have one anyway) I can see how this would be a big upgrade for people. I deprimered a couple hundred cases to see how the new workplace feels and I managed to get 3-4 spent primers not in the cup and it was already half full when I dumped it.

I've seen the thread about the micrometer powder bar upgrade and the overwhelming response was that it is a worthwhile upgrade. However, there are several other which I'd like to get opinions on. 1) The first is a camming pin replacement. the camming pin scratches against the case insert slide as I move up and down and almost sounds like it is going to wear away the material. The upgrade pin has a small roller bearing which supposedly eliminates the need for any lubrication and would eliminate the scratching noise heard when operating the press. This kit has the pin I am talking about along with other parts http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dillon-XL-650-Premium-Performance-Improvments-Kit-/321399781658?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad4eb791a 2) Low mass detent ball and new spring. I've seen these separately rather than part of the kit as above. No idea if these actually work as advertised. 3) Shellplate bearing kit. again, there is a "bushing" shown in the kit above which to me actually makes more sense. However, I have seen the larger needle bearing kits. Are these more trouble than they are worth or a great idea and must have? 4) Roller lever. I know most people recommend the Dillon roller lever but I cam across this one on eBay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ERGO-roller-lever-for-Dillon-650-reloading-press-/261500338350?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ce2a280ae made by in line fabrication, the handle is bent so that the handle is up closer to your natural standing position so that you do not need to bend at all (or lean) 5) spent primer chute kit. this kit includes a bolt on plastic part that a hose attaches to in order to funnel spent primers to a larger jar or bottle. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dillon-650-Spent-Primer-Chute-Kit-for-Dillon-650-Reloading-Press-/171385365409?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27e75d23a1 6) Tool head lights. I've seen various versions of lighting including one that looks far superior to others. the light kit consists of a strip of lights by the powder check station and a machined light that fits in the center of the toolhead and is removable for toolhead changes. http://inlinefabrication.com/collections/dillon/products/skylighttm-led-lighting-kit-for-the-dillon-650 The company in line fabrication also has a host of other upgrades, so if you have used one of them and can either recommend or say forget it, the input would be very helpful. thank you.

I believe this company's products are what everyone is looking for. No idea of cost, but they may be able to give an idea of a local distributor or store. http://www.pmpfasteners.com/media/micro_plastics_push_in.pdf

As they say, time is money. I had never looked at buying my 650 from a cost standpoint as far as time=x dollars, but rather two things. I have two boys and a new daughter and if I am sitting at a table for 6 hours a month loading ammo that is 6 less hours I can be doing something else. If I can load the same amount in an hour and a half or less on a 650 then it's allowing me to do stuff I wouldn't have been able to. Originally I was going to load .40S&W. When I calculated cost of ammo at the beginning of the summer it would have taken me ~4,000 rounds to break even on my purchase. (vs store bought) Then 9mm and .40 started getting a lot cheaper and now I can get ammo from Freedom for only a couple bucks more per box, or even similar than it would cost me to load myself. However, the .45 is still pricey and I can save myself $10+ a box by doing it myself, even when I account for cost of brass. My payback is less than 3,000 rounds. PLUS, a caliber conversion is only a couple hundred, so i can then start loading the 9mm and .40 as it is easier to justify an expense of $250 than it is $600. Though I must say, payback for me will be several years because of other needed items like digital scale, bench costs, press add-ons, tumbling/ cleaning equipment costs, etc. I'd rather buy once and spend more money than buy cheap and spend again a year later. This would even include opting for the Dillon 650 over another progressive press on the market at a decent cost upgrade.

Well CCI primers were on sale last month at the same price so I got 5-6k then. And the local show a month back had someone selling the Tula primers for $22/k, so it isn't like there are no others available. I'm just wondering what brass the OP is having problems with as I have ~400 spp .45 brass as well as all my .40 and 9mm. It the federal primers are to blame then I'll just skip purchasing any and eliminate the possibility of issues.

Is this specific to a certain caliber? Just wondering because the Federal SPP is on sale locally for $23.99/k. I'm planning on doing .45 for now (have mix of large and small primer brass) but also plan on .40 S&W and 9mm.

I have a pile of this vary same brass in SPP and I really hope there isn't an issue. In fact out of the brass I got the only SPP stuff was these two brands.

The Keebler elves don't even have fingers that small. When the pin is in the hole, the brass nut is inside the case. I'll just wait until I get the part from Dillon. I just wasn't sure if that mating surface was supposed to be machined smooth or not. On mine it just looks like they formed the threads and left the end however it wanted to be after thread forming.

Ok here is a photo of what I am talking about. The bottom of the decapping shaft, which is labeled as #1 and has the arrow pointing to the area in question. On mine this is not machined and is concave, but is not uniform. Because #1 is not machined flat, when I tighten the pin (#3) with the cap (#2) the pin is skewed off center. 20140912_224538 by mikeinctown, on Flickr

This thread is the greatest. I picked up my new 650 this morning in .45. While it is the largest single expense, it is less than half of the expense I've figured out that I still need to buy. I still need to buy the powder scale, bins, boxes, chrono, brass cleaning equipment, etc. (probably a case feeder and the accessories that Dillon didn't put on there but make life easier) then I want to load 2 other calibers, so I'll be spending the extra $200+ on each caliber as well. My saving grace is that the GF wants to shoot as much as I do. I just need to hide the couple new guns I bought for a while. Haha Maybe I canhelp my cause by letting her dad do some reloading. I started with the .45 because it is the most expensive pistol ammo I will be using. The cheapest stuff at WalMart this morning was $23 a box. Loading my own I can get the stuff right now for .23/bullet or $11.50 a box. That is even including buying the brass at the gun shows. When 9mm can be had from freedom for $10 a box when you buy 1,000 rounds, it just isn't worth the expense to add to the press right now.

My local place has had plenty of Alliant powder in stock. I currently have 4lbs of Unique and 4lbs of TiteGroup. I am planning on using the Unique for my .40 S&W Trying to figure out what to use for the .45 as the TiteGroup requires a light load for most calibers. the shop also has Red Dot Blue Dot Power Pistol and may have Unique and Bullseye again as well. They also have a lot of stuff for rifle and shotgun but really haven't paid attention. Most of the stuff is around $22 a pound, but the Titegroup I bought was $73 for a 4pound jug. Planning on using either Blue Bullets or Bayou Bullets coated, or Xtreme plated bullets in 230gr. Any suggestions are very welcome

New set of Dillon dies for a .45 ACP. (my first press, so I am learning things as I go) I noticed as I was looking at the depriming portion that the decapping pin was not set straight in the die. I took the die apart and removed the pin. As the die set came with an extra pin I put the new pin in place and snugged up the retaining cap, only to realize that the same issue is happening. The chances of two depriming pins not being straight is about 0% so i started looking at the other parts. The retaining cap appears to be machined ok, but the bottom of the decapping shaft is not machined flat at all and if I take the pin and set the pin on the shaft you can tell there is no way it will ever sit flush/flat. The bottom of the decapping shaft appears concave, but not uniformly. I've called Dillon and described the issue. They are sending out a new depriming assembly rather than just the shaft. My questions are; Is the depriming shaft machined flat on the bottom or is it machined in any way? If the bottom is not flat, is there any method you guys use to keep the pin straight and to keep it from going cocked to the side as you tighten down on the cap? Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the link Brian, I had actually read that page through probably a half dozen times. I think each time I read it I got more confused as I was linking to additional pages. I was reading things for the 550 and 1050 and maybe getting them confused with the 650 stuff. Part of it also had to do with the suggestions that you could do this or that or even something else to come to the same end result. (an example would be conversion kits where you can buy a whole kit or use parts from another and mix and match parts) I'm also a learn by doing guy and reading doesn't sink in as much as actully just having my hands on something. I also figured out why i was confused about the 11/01/14 dillon MSRP pricing. When I look at the Dillon page for the 650 I saw a price listed of $1100. I assumed that was the MSRP and was concerned the press would be almost doubling in cost. I neglected to see that the figure I saw was for the press plus all the add ons. Appreciate the help so far.

Thanks for the input so far. Being able to just keep everything intact and swap out the dies and powder measure all in one shot to me is very appealing. I will rethink the primer change kit depending on how everything looks when I get the unit. As far as the conversion kits, I guess for the $ it may not be worth getting parts confused and lost or misplaced in the wrong box. Also, I saw on the site that after 11/1 the Dillon MSRP will be shown on the site. I assume this is the same price Dillon shows on their own website?

In the next couple weeks I am going to order the 650 and a set of dies in the .40 caliber. As I am in no hurry to start using it, I am going to hold off on the strong mount, trays, extra handle, or case feeder. I'll pick those up in a couple months. I figure get the costliest part out of the way and add on as funds become available. Anyway, I am going to be reloading the .40 to start and then want to load .45 for a 1911. (also plan on doing 9mm and 380 down the road) My question is what do I need to go from the .40 to the .45? Correct any wrong assumptions here Caliber conversion kit. Dies Deluxe change kit for ease of setup and changeover. (extra powder measure, toolhead etc) Primer quick change, again for ease of change. I am also assuming that if I get the case feeder that I would want the large plate to start as it will work with both the .40 and .45. When I want to start doing the 9mm and 380 will I need to buy two additional caliber change kits, or will the one for 9mm also work with the 380? Thanks